I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 49

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 49. The Taste of Hell (1)
The first taste was savory.
Like the flavor of chewing on a human charred to death by flames, I suppose.
It was a rather delicious taste.
No, it was simply delicious.
That must have been why.
The creature moved its jaw once more.
Unaware that its own hell was about to begin.
【Grrrrrrgh?】
Something thick trickled down along its teeth toward the gums.
The moment the viscous liquid touched the gums, it began to assert itself.
I am flame, I am lava.
As scorching as melted stone, fiercer than roaring fire.
【Grrgh… Guuugh!】
Yes, I am pain.
【Grraaaaaaaaaagh!】
The most agonizing moment of the goblin’s entire life had arrived.
* * *
“The effect is undeniable.”
The creature’s convulsions with ten chunks of hellbread crammed into its mouth were utterly pitiful.
The way it lifted one leg and then the other to suppress the pain resembled a can-can dance, one might say.
“You should have looked at what you were eating before you ate it.”
My strategy was simple.
Advance toward the creature with the truck, then pluck a leaf from a plant resembling a Venus flytrap and stuff ten chunks of bread inside it.
Since only mammals intensely perceive capsaicin, plants remain unaffected.
Then I wave the leaf from the front to lure it, and when the creature approaches with its mouth open, Noir emerges from hiding and dumps the bread into its mouth.
Noir called it “a plan only worth attempting if one has more than nine lives,” but the results are undeniably perfect.
【Grrruuuaaaagh!】
Watching the creature writhe like someone who had stubbed their pinky toe at full speed into a doorframe in the dead of winter.
“Ah, I wonder if it hurts even more than that.”
“Just how spicy is it to provoke such a reaction? Owner….”
“It’s not just spicy, that’s why.”
Even the status window acknowledged it—this had already transcended the category of bread.
That’s why I haven’t even tasted it myself.
I probably would have died if I had.
Though it would surely taste good at first.
It’s bread I baked, after all—it must have flavor.
“But everything after that would be the problem.”
“Is it because of the Taegohua?”
“That too, and also because of its juice.”
“Meow?”
“Because I put several of them in whole.”
One common misconception people have is that peppers contain no juice.
How could that possibly be true?
Theoretically, peppers are fruits too.
Based on this insight, when baking this bread, I added to the existing method of slicing Taegohua into it by adopting a strategy of baking several whole peppers inside.
“And by adjusting the temperature appropriately, I made sure the fruit juice inside concentrated as much as possible.”
So the moment it was bitten, the hellish spiciness of the Taegohua would have exploded.
Was that all?
“On top of that, the pungency of Black Flame Pepper would have been added.”
The spiciness of pepper differs in texture from that of chili peppers.
Chili peppers deliver a continuous sensation of burning in fire centered around a heavy impact, but pepper gives a single intense bomb-like sensation.
However, Black Flame Pepper’s intensity would be close to a nuclear explosion, and I even packed it in without leaving any gaps….
“At that point, isn’t it more than just pungency? Owner?”
“Let’s just gloss over that part.”
And the Moisture Sprout (Nuri’s cultivated version) that I added together would deliver the final blow.
Since it’s a creature that sucks up moisture and causes thirst, even the saliva that would come out to neutralize the spiciness would have dried up completely.
It would be like shooting pillars of fire into a mouth as parched and cracked as a rice paddy during a drought.
“Plus, the quantity was substantial, so the spiciness won’t disappear just from eating it once.”
“How long does it last?”
“Uh… I don’t know?”
“Meow?”
“I’d have to eat it myself to know.”
Still, it probably lasts around thirty minutes.
No matter how large that creature’s body is, I packed in an insanely massive amount, and I threw in a total of ten of them.
So that’s why it’s been rampaging like that.
【Grrrraaaaaahhhhgh!】
【Krrrrgh!】
【Keeeeeek!】
Because of this, the unfortunate goblins around it continued to be trampled to death.
To suppress the spiciness, the creature even tried to devour its own kind to drink their blood, but Nuri’s Moisture Sprout was powerful.
It dried up even the replenished moisture.
What remained for the creature was an endless despair-like spiciness.
“That’s terrifying….”
“Spiciness is pain after all.”
Thus, the creature that had tasted a flavor akin to the source of agony crawling up from hell began to slow its movements.
The pace of its thrashing weakened… its cries faded, and then finally….
Kuuuuung
It took less than five minutes from when it laid its massive body on the ground, gasping for breath and foaming at the mouth, until it died from shock.
The goblins around it had already been reduced to pulp from being caught in its rampage.
“That’s it, Owner.”
“Then we need to get moving. If that creature was the boss, the Gate will start closing soon. We need to leave before it does.”
When the boss dies, the Gate closes.
Which meant I might be exposed to the Hunters while in this smoke form.
So I hurriedly gathered Chohong and Noir, then climbed down from the truck.
“Master! What should I do, Master!”
Nuri, left standing alone in the midst of it all.
If I left her like this, she’d inevitably get caught up in something quite serious.
Because it would look like a mere botanical garden operator with no abilities whatsoever had driven up in a strangely modified truck and single-handedly closed the Gate.
“Sigh… I have no choice… Just a moment. Please take this.”
“What is this, Master?”
She accepted the hastily scribbled note from me and stared blankly at me standing before the Gate.
What else could it be?
“If anyone comes, show them this. Then you won’t get caught up in anything.”
“What do you mean by that, Master!”
“Anyway, consider this payment for your help. Then!”
With those words, I threw myself into the deep, deep interior of the Gate alongside Noir.
What was written inside, you ask?
Nothing much.
I simply wrote down the name of the most famous person among those I had connections with in the past.
“I came here thinking I’d make fresh fruit juice, and look at all this trouble.”
“You’ve worked hard, Owner. But didn’t you forget something?”
“Huh? What?”
Noir, nestled in my arms with only her head poking out, answered.
“Wasn’t the reason you came here in the first place to learn about farming?”
“Ah…”
Unfortunately, when people get caught up in difficult circumstances, they tend to forget their original purpose.
* * *
– Jindo Dog team entering.
– Eagle team entering simultaneously.
“Take preemptive action upon entry.”
– Confirmed.
After responding to the radio transmission, Ria also rechecked her equipment once more.
Following behind her were two Hunters and members of the Special Investigation Team 1.
They were now at the Gongju Research Complex where a Gate Break had occurred.
That meant investigations needed to be conducted here.
“Team Leader. Are you certain experiments were conducted here?”
“Based on the intelligence we’ve gathered so far, it’s certain. Now we need to secure the evidence.”
The Gongju Research Complex had been one of the places the Hunter Association had been keeping a close eye on.
Under the guise of joint management, the government had been increasingly conducting independent research.
“Still, it’s fortunate that it isn’t some kind of experimental subject like we initially suspected, isn’t it?”
At my team member’s words, I nodded slightly.
The monster captured in the footage we’d reviewed before the operation.
Dangerous plants of the sort you’d only find Inside the Gate, clumped together and moving swiftly as a swarm, with Black Smoke positioned atop it.
Looking at something so bizarre and inherently terrifying, all of us in Team 1, myself included, harbored suspicions.
That it was the result of research conducted by the government.
That the Gate Break had been caused by it.
But those assumptions were completely off the mark.
“I never expected we’d be able to rescue everyone we encountered directly at the nearby botanical garden.”
A small botanical garden we discovered while advancing toward the deepest part of the research complex.
Perhaps it was thanks to the presence of all manner of Gate-origin plants there.
We succeeded in rescuing all the civilians and officials who had been safely sheltering from the goblins.
“They were rescued by that Black Smoke…”
“When a potion was applied, they said a severed arm regrew, but the mana analysis confirmed it was an Elixir.”
These were the people saved by that Black Smoke, who had introduced itself as a passing Hunter.
It had used Elixir generously on the wounded and even showed them the way to safety here.
“And didn’t you say all those goblins were slaughtered in an instant?”
“No matter how weak goblins are, with this many of them, even a decent Hunter would have struggled to cope.”
Goblins, like their namesakes in fantasy novels, are individually pathetically weak.
Even a Hunter who’d just acquired their skills could dispatch them without difficulty.
But they never travel alone.
Moving in packs as they do, their danger level skyrockets in an instant.
In fact, even a B-rank Hunter once met their end surrounded by a hundred goblins—not by an Ogre or mutant Troll, but by goblins.
“But looking at the quantity of these corpses…”
“Quiet. I’ve already confirmed it.”
Until now, the members of Special Investigation Team 1 hadn’t used their abilities even once.
There was no need to, after all.
Goblins bisected and dead.
Goblins melted away.
Goblins burst open, leaving only flesh scraps.
Goblins drained of bodily fluids, nothing but husks remaining.
Goblin corpses everywhere.
“That’s precisely why we must be even more careful.”
I had never heard of a Hunter capable of handling goblins on this scale alone.
And I’d certainly never heard of a skill that could transform one’s own body like Black Smoke.
It meant an unregistered Hunter.
Typically, such Hunters hide their power and commit crimes for personal gain, don’t they?
Even if it helped us now, thinking of the consequences when such overwhelming power is wielded recklessly in the future naturally makes one uneasy.
“And we may very well engage in combat with such a being right now. Everyone, stay alert.”
“Understood.”
This is Jindo Dog. This is Jindo Dog.
“Report.”
As I steeled my team members’ resolve, the report came through.
Manipulating the radio, I received a response filled with bewilderment from the other end.
The situation has ended…
“Pardon? The situation has ended? What do you mean?”
The Gate… it’s closed…
“What? Surely the boss’s mana signature was at least B-rank or higher, wasn’t it?”
That’s correct. We just confirmed it as B+ rank with the measuring device…
Did they say just now?
Yes, they said just now.
That meant even the reporting team member hadn’t been certain until moments ago.
Ria, who was confident they must have discovered something, spoke up.
“What did you discover?”
I’ll transmit it right away. This is… this is really…
A single photograph uploaded to Special Forces Team 1’s network.
It was enough to shock everyone.
“What on earth…”
It was a massive goblin.
No, it wasn’t simply a goblin with its size increased.
The increased size meant it wasn’t a goblin but a superior species—a Hobgoblin—and at this scale, it was practically a disaster worthy of the “King” designation.
And on top of that…
“Given that the body’s color is red, it’s clearly in a berserk state…”
A berserk state that allowed it to exert several times its normal abilities.
With this, the creature’s danger level would have jumped to B+ in an instant.
The team member who discovered it first must have thought the same and reported accordingly.
But that alone wouldn’t have caused everyone to react like this.
“Not a single wound… and you captured this monster?”
Not a single wound existed on the creature’s body.
The only abnormality visible was the foam dripping from its mouth.
What could have caused such a reaction?
Unable to comprehend it.
Survivor found! We found a survivor! Uh… he’s thrusting some kind of note at us. I’ll check it!
A team member who received a small note from a haggard man nearby reported its contents.
To the ice hunter of the Gangneung Gate… additional compensation for purification salt… is being paid?
“Gangneung… ice… Yu Ha-neul, the guild master?”
The moment the Blue Dragon Guild’s guild master was mentioned in a note handed over by a civilian.
Because of this, everyone failed to notice.
From the corpse of the dead King Hobgoblin, a viscous black tar mass slipped out and quietly disappeared somewhere.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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